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Practices for The Indefinite Future

Welcome to The Farm, an intentional community in Summertown, Tennessee, founded on principles of nonviolence and respect for the Earth.

Sharpen your pencils and take notes: Here we see the Eco-village Training Center, where sustainability is the subject, taught by founder Albert Bates.

There are a multitude of imaginative permaculture and building techniques taught here: reusing greywater for phosphate loving plants, how to deal with sewage sustainably, re-using old satellite dishes to make living roofs, techniques for warming winter greenhouses, chicken coops built of stray, sand and clay from the land, solar showers, and more. They created a mushroom plantation, inoculating old logs with shiitake mushroom spawn for a steady supply of this gourmet, edible crop with healing properties.

"We are teaching natural building for the Indefinite Future. You don't have to be indebted to the bank to have a nice place to live- but you may need to scale back your expectations." says Albert Bates. "It's about creating elegance at a smaller scale"